At the present time a number of methods are known for irradiating polymer films by electron beam (E-beam) for purposes of organic materials radiation modification.
Thus, for example, there is a method of E-beam irradiation of polyurethane polymers for polyurethane stress relaxation, the E-beam produced by a high voltage accelerator. This method consists in material radiation treatment, the radiation dose ranging up to 12 Mrad as disclosed in E P, A2, 0 204 084, B29C 71/04, published in 1986.
Another E-beam radiation method is used for the removal of residual monomer from wrapper films. This method consists in low energy electron irradiation of the moving film, using a wide exit window with an irradiation dose from ds50 kGy as disclosed in DE,A1, 3 602 965, B29C 71/04, published in 1987, accelerating voltage magnitude ranging from 150-300 kV.
The closest known analogue to the proposed invention is the method of irradiating polymer films by E-beam, which includes treatment of moving polymer film by means of accelerated electrons with an accelerating voltage of 400-750 KeV to effect film crosslinking. The speed at which film moves past the opening of the scanning device is 3.5-5 m/min with a film radiation dose of 10-16 Mrad as disclosed in SU, A, 955 863, B29C 7104, published in 1982.
The drawback of this closest analogue to the invention, as well as the other analogues mentioned above, is the inefficient energy usage of electrons irradiating polymer film in order to modify its properties. For single-stage polymer material irradiation up to full radiation dose, linear molecules crosslinked into a 3-dimensional structure fail to achieve optimal spatial configuration with the minimum of free energy. A worsening of the physical and mechanical properties of crosslinked polymer film results.